The invention relates to a treatment such as circulation of information corresponding to that which concerns the rights relating to a commercial trade or electronic information which signifies a variety of rights (hereafter referred to as electronic rights information or electronic ticket), and in particular, to a method of and an apparatus for treatment of electronic rights information which safeguard the rights information against copying or falsification while allowing a safe storage and circulation thereof, and a recorded medium having a program recorded therein which is used to carry out the method.
Recently, attempts are in progress which are intended to provide an electronization or digitalization of rights information as contained in cash or tickets. Currently, such rights information is generally stored in a portable medium such as an IC card or a magnetic card or managed in a concentrated manner by an issuer of rights information in the form of accounts located in a center database.
A system storing rights information in accounts managed by the issuer is exemplified by “e-Ticket” from “digitimini” company. In this system, an IC card which verifies the identity of a user is handed to the user upon subscription. A ticket can be reserved through Web page, and reservation information is recorded in a database maintained by the e-Ticket. The user shows his IC card when entering an auditorium, whereby a confirmation can be made if the user has previously made a reservation. Since the IC card has no storage of reservation information, this system is characterized by the absence of any limit on the data capacity.
On the other hand, a system in which rights information is stored in a portable medium is exemplified by an electronic cash system by MONDEX. In this system, electronic data which is equivalent to an amount of cash is stored in a card, which is physically carried by a user. A payment in a store can be completed by transferring the cash data stored in the card to a card of the store. This system is characterized by its ability to allow an off-line transfer of cash data without utilizing a network.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 27,815/1996 proposes an electronic asset data transfer method using a plurality of portable data carriers in which a trading is enabled by transferring electronic cash data or frequency data such as a service utilization privilege from a user's account or the like. According to this method, electronic asset data is normally stored in the account, and thus the method is characterized by being utilized by allowing a transfer as required to a portable terminal unit which is convenient to use and which assures a high security.
A system such as the e-Ticket in which the issuer manages the account has a problem, in the first instance, that it is susceptible to falsification or deletion of the electronic rights information by the issuer. This does not present any significant problem if the issuer can be trustworthy as for instance of flight tickets issued by airlines. But where the issuer is not trustworthy as in an instance of a personally issued bond, it is of primary importance to determine who manages the rights information.
In the second instance, for the management of the account by the issuer, a network connection with the database of the issuer or the manager organization thereof is an essential requirement, and an issuance, a transfer, a ticket examination or the like is inhibited in an environment which makes such network connection unavailable.
In the third instance, for the account management by the issuer, there is a problem that the management only covers those rights information issued by the issuer as a matter of course, and the storage of other rights information is generally unavailable. A vicarious agency may issue and manage any other desired rights information without accompanying any significant technical difficulty, but its operation becomes complicated owing to the needs for a deed of contract which must be concluded between a client which desires the issuance of rights information and the vicarious agency and a payment of fees associated therewith.
On the other hand, the system in which rights information is stored in a portable medium suffers from the problems as mentioned below. In the first instance, when issuing rights information or transferring it through a network, it is always necessary to have two portable media connected together to the network. An access is allowed at any time for the approach storing rights in the account, while because the portable medium is physically carried by an individual, the system of this type is subject to the fact that time when the portable medium of the other party is connected to the network is greatly limited. Accordingly, upon issuing or transferring rights information, both cards must be simultaneously put into terminals to make them in condition for use, as by communicating to each other. Accordingly, it is difficult to apply this approach for instances of use such as coupons or gift certificates which are unilaterally afforded from a transferer independently from the convenience and intent of a transferee.
In the second instance, an IC has a greatly limited capacity under the current state of the art, and accordingly, the amount of electronic rights information which can be stored is limited.
It is to be noted that in the disclosure of Japanese Patent Publication No. 27,815/1996, the electronic asset data is transferred as required from the account to a portable medium to enable a transaction, thus enabling some of the problems mentioned above to be overcome. However, it is premised that the issuer of the electronic asset data remains to be only the bank which manages the account, and thus there cannot be provided an account where a variety of rights information issued by a number of issuers can be managed. There also remains a problem that it is difficult to control a range of circulation which varies from one rights variety to another and a verification of qualification of a ticket examiner.